- Russian drone strike on ammunition depot in Myla killed 37 people Friday night, with the toll rising to 38 by Sunday
- Zelensky called the storage of explosives near homes and a care facility terrible negligence and ordered a criminal investigation
- Nearly 400 residents were evacuated and roughly 130 homes were damaged in the blast near Kyiv
- The attack is the second such depot disaster in two months after a July strike in Vyshneve killed nine
- Ukraine's agriculture minister says 90 percent of the country's food distribution centers have been destroyed, emptying store shelves
In an incident Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described as an act of "terrible negligence," a Russian drone strike Friday evening struck a Ukrainian military ammunition storage site in the village of Myla, just west of Kyiv, triggering hours of secondary explosions that killed at least 37 people that night, injured dozens, and damaged roughly 130 homes plus a care facility. The death toll rose to 38 by Sunday, with four people still missing. The blast, which forced the evacuation of nearly 400 residents, has prompted a criminal investigation into why explosives were stored so close to civilians — the second such deadly incident near the capital in two months.
Ammo dump placement near homes draws criminal investigation
The strike hit a Defense Forces depot holding shells, mines, other munitions, and drones in a residential area of the Bucha district, about 15 miles from central Kyiv. Zelensky said the facility "definitely shouldn't have been there" and that prosecutors had opened proceedings on charges of official negligence. Regional officials confirmed four children were among the 42 people injured, with a rescue operation continuing into Saturday.
Among the dead was Taras Didych, the long-time head of the local municipality, who had rushed to the scene to help. Ukraine's Minister for Recovery, Infrastructure and Transport Mykola Kalashnyk said Didych "always stood by his people" and had kept the community together during the Russian occupation.
Similar blast at Vyshneve in July killed nine
Friday's explosion marks the second time in recent months that a Russian strike on a poorly placed ammunition warehouse has produced catastrophic civilian harm. In early July, a similar attack on a depot in Vyshneve, about 12 miles southeast of Myla, killed nine people and damaged more than 280 homes. Two people were detained afterward on suspicion of allowing weapons to be stored in an inappropriate location.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergiy Koretsky expressed regret that a "lesson" had not been learned from the Vyshneve incident, stating on Telegram: "In the fifth year of the full-scale invasion, making the same mistakes over and over is criminal negligence."
Russia targets food logistics as shelves go bare
The Myla blast occurred amid a multi-day Russian campaign using jet-powered drones and missiles against Ukrainian warehouse infrastructure. Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi told reporters that roughly 90% of the food-logistics distribution centers serving major retail chains like Silpo and NOVUS have been destroyed. While Vysotskyi insisted this would not cause famine — as stores switch to more expensive direct-from-producer deliveries — stores in Kyiv are already reporting empty shelves for produce, dairy, and staple goods.
Zelensky reported further overnight strikes across Odesa, Dnipro, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia regions. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a two-year-old girl died after a Russian drone crashed in the Obolonskyi district, with five others injured Saturday morning. The Ukrainian air force reported shooting down 233 Russian drones in the latest wave of attacks.
Residents blame both Putin and depot planners
Local residents expressed anger at both Moscow and their own military leaders. Vira, a 65-year-old Myla resident, said: "Those who set up the depot here are to blame. There are people here, this is a village. You can't keep something like that here." Her son Serhii said they had no idea ammunition was stored in their village, believing the warehouse held humanitarian aid.
Liudmyla, whose daughter's home was heavily damaged, offered a double answer when pressed on who bore responsibility: "Putin! Who else? And those who set up the depot here." She noted unexploded ordnance still lay scattered through the area, not yet cleared by cleanup teams.
With winter approaching and Ukrainian officials still investigating who authorized storing explosives beside a care home, the deadly blunder raises an uncomfortable question for the war's American and European backers: how much of the billions in aid sent to Kyiv is funding decisions this careless, and at what point does continuing to bankroll the war effort outweigh the cost of pushing harder for a negotiated end to it.
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